Around Sports: Baylor will start Johnson at QB for bowl game

ASPEN, CO - NOVEMBER 29: Mikaela Shiffrin of the United States celebrates on the podium after winning the slalom during the Adui FIS Women's Alpine Ski World Cup at the Nature Valley Aspen Winternational on November 29, 2015 in Aspen, Colorado. (Photo by Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)

Photo: Doug Pensinger, Staff

Baylor coach Art Briles said third-string quarterback Chris Johnson will start for the No. 17 Bears against No. 10 North Carolina in the Russell Athletic Bowl on Dec. 29 in Orlando, Fla.

Briles told the Orlando Sentinel on Tuesday that backup Jarrett Stidham would not be healed for the game as he recovers from foot and hand injuries sustained in a Nov. 21 win over Oklahoma State. Stidham took over after Seth Russell was lost for the season with a broken bone in his neck suffered Oct. 24 against Iowa State.

When Johnson was lost early in Baylor's 23-17 loss to Texas on Dec. 5, converted wide receiver Lynx Hawthorne finished the game at quarterback.

In other college football news:

Mississippi defensive lineman Robert Nkemdiche apologized in a statement released through the school after being charged with possession of marijuana following a 15-foot fall at an Atlanta hotel over the weekend. Nkemdiche said in the statement he did not use synthetic drugs.

Nkemdiche was hospitalized after the fall and has stitches in his back and leg, according to Ole Miss coach Hugh Freeze The coach has not made a decision about Nkemdiche's status against Oklahoma State in the Jan. 1 Sugar Bowl.

Dakota Prukop of Montana State has decided to transfer from the FCS school to Oregon after visiting with the Ducks and Alabama. He said he also considered Michigan and Texas. Prukop has already graduated and will be eligible to play next season. Oregon went the FCS graduate transfer route this past season with Vernon Adams, formerly of Eastern Washington.

Winter Sports

Shiffrin unsure of return

Mikaela Shiffrin said there is still no timetable for her return to skiing after she tore a knee ligament while warming up last weekend.

The Olympic and world slalom champion posted an update on Instagram on Tuesday. The 20-year-old American does not need surgery but will require a lot of rest and rehab.

She tore her medial collateral ligament in her right knee during a wipeout while preparing for a giant slalom on Saturday in Are, Sweden. She also suffered a bone bruise.

Baseball

Defectors make return to Cuba

A lineup of Cuban-born baseball stars, including some of the most famous defectors in recent memory, made a triumphant return to the island Tuesday as part of the first Major League Baseball trip there since 1999.

Once the object of official disdain in Cuba for leaving the country illegally, Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Yasiel Puig, St. Louis Cardinals catcher Brayan Pena, and first baseman Jose Abreu and shortstop Alexei Ramirez of the Chicago White Sox were swarmed by fans and members of the state media in the lobby of Havana's soaring Hotel Nacional at the start of a three-day mission meant to warm relations between MLB and Cuba.

The major leagues and Cuban baseball have been moving quickly to rebuild ties since Presidents Barack Obama and Raul Castro declared a year ago Thursday that they would re-establish diplomatic relations between the U.S. and Cuba.

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